“We appreciate that the governor was able to look beyond the emotional rhetoric and focus on the true impact this measure would have had on farmers and their employees,” said Rich Matteis, administrator of the California Farm Bureau Federation, one of 27 agricultural and business groups that had urged the governor to veto the bill. “The governor clearly grasps that the unpredictable and seasonal nature of farming requires more flexibility in its labor laws.

“It’s important to remember that existing California law already provides overtime pay for farm employees. They qualify for overtime wages after 10 hours of work in a single day, 60 hours of work in a week, and for any hours worked on a seventh consecutive day. That existing law provides enough flexibility for both farmers and their employees to deal with the variability in farm work.”

In addition to the organizations against the bill, coalition officials said more than 10,000 California agricultural workers had signed a petition sent to the governor urging him to veto the bill because it would have reduced farmworker wages by more than 30 percent.